Philly picks design for new Sadie Alexander statue
Driving the news: Vinnie Bagwell's design — "Philadelphia's First Lady of the Law: Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander" — will stand in Center City's Thomas Paine Plaza beside the Municipal Services Building, the city announced Wednesday.
A city committee considered five semifinalist designs.
Catch up quick: Alexander, born in 1898, was a Philadelphian who broke barriers in academia and law.
She was the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in economics in the U.S., and the first Black woman to graduate from Penn's Law School.
Plus: She was a founding member of Philly's Commission on Human Relations and the first Black woman to serve as the city's assistant solicitor.
Flashback: The city launched its plans for a statue of Alexander late last year.
It's one of Mayor Cherelle Parker's long-time goals.
Parker pitched the idea of a statue for Alexander in 2018 when she was city legislator, which ultimately fizzled out at the time.
Zoom in: Bagwell's bronze Alexander statue will be finished with a black patina and stand 9 feet tall.
It depicts Alexander the moment after she graduates from Penn, wearing a graduation robe and a straw hat adorned with flowers.
Alexander holds a book on the U.S. Constitution, which is opened to the Fourteenth Amendment.
The pedestal will include her quote: "The future of our nation depends upon our willingness to uphold democracy and justice for all."
What they're saying: "My subjects have souls, and they're meant to be engaged," Bagwell said in a news release.
Zoom out: Two more statues dedicated to historic Black women are in the works for Philly.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
5 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
HUD drops housing discrimination complaint related to aldermanic prerogative and Chicago zoning
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is dropping its investigation into whether or not aldermanic prerogative, which typically gives Chicago aldermen the final word on zoning decisions in their ward, resulted in housing discrimination. In a letter HUD sent Wednesday to the complaining parties, which was obtained by the Tribune, the agency said it was closing the case to instead focus on 'real concerns regarding fair housing.' 'It is the Department's policy to focus on the original understanding and enforcement of the law and therefore rightfully return such decisions on zoning, home building, and more, to local leaders who are directly responsible for those matters,' the letter says. 'HUD enforcement will continue to prioritize investigations of specific allegations of actual discrimination, rather than dictate or influence land use policy.' ProPublica reported last month HUD was planning to drop the case. What dropping the investigation means for Chicago remains unclear. Advocates hope to negotiate a deal with Mayor Brandon Johnson that will prevent aldermen from discriminating against affordable housing projects and developments. But it's unclear what action Johnson will take, given that he is preparing for a difficult reelection campaign and budget fight. Johnson's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, nor did HUD officials. A 2018 complaint filed by the Shriver Center on Poverty Law on behalf of community organizations alleged that aldermanic prerogative promotes housing discrimination by keeping racial minorities from moving into affluent white neighborhoods. After an investigation, HUD under Democratic President Joe Biden found in 2023 the allegations to be true. The agency found that Chicago had limited the building of income-restricted affordable housing in majority-white neighborhoods by giving aldermen complete veto power. It also found that Chicago had disproportionately harmed Black and Hispanic residents, perpetuated racial segregation and effectuated opposition to affordable housing 'based on racial animus.' HUD offered the parties an opportunity to work with the federal agency on informal settlement negotiations. But the Tribune reported last month that Johnson's administration delayed signing an agreement to resolve the federal complaint. A group of organizations behind the complaint met July 9 with senior mayoral aides Kennedy Bartley and Jason Lee to discuss alternative arrangements that would address the issue while leaving HUD out of the equation and forgoing any action items that would require City Council approval. But the political willpower to approve changes that would address the issue is in danger without HUD's backing. Representatives from organizations behind the complaint said last week they believed HUD will no longer pursue fair housing complaints under Republican President Donald Trump's administration. The affordable and fair housing community locally and nationally have been taking repeated hits from the Trump administration, which has sought to hinder fair housing enforcement and obstruct certain affordable housing developments. Asked last month how the complaining organizations will take on aldermanic prerogative without HUD's backing and the City Council's support, Rod Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, said he thinks there are other routes that don't need City Council approval but declined to share specifics because of the ongoing negotiations with the mayor's team.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
GOP governor nominee pushes redistricting to oust state's lone House Dem
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., is calling on his state to join the growing fight over the country's congressional maps – with eyes on the one Democrat in his delegation. Norman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he wants the South Carolina General Assembly to redraw its district lines, which he argued is more in line with the Palmetto State's Republican majorities in the statehouse and state Senate. "We have Republican supermajorities in South Carolina. Let's use them to create more competition in our congressional seats. I have no doubt Republicans can be successful in every part of our state," Norman said. Norman, who is running for governor, said that would make South Carolina's seats in the House of Representatives "more competitive" and that it would "move our House delegation from 6-1 to 7-0." Beto O'rourke Drops F-bomb As He Urges Dems To 'Meet Fire With Fire' Against Gop Redistricting Plans In Texas "That will help increase Republican control of Congress and help President Trump pass his agenda. Every vote counts toward a conservative Speaker Mike Johnson rather than a liberal Speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New York City," Norman said. Read On The Fox News App And while he did not give further details about how he'd want that map to look, he did mention the lone Democrat, longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., by name. "Jim Clyburn is a nice man and I respect him. But he is a liberal Democrat who helped put Joe Biden in the White House," Norman said. "That's not the kind of representation South Carolina needs." Clyburn is indeed a close ally of former President Joe Biden. His support was critical to Biden winning the 2020 Democratic primary in South Carolina, a victory that was decisive in putting Biden at the front of the crowded race. He's also represented South Carolina's 6th congressional district since 1993. Schwarzenegger Pushes Back Against Newsom In Redistricting Fight The 6th congressional district was first gerrymandered to give Black South Carolinians greater representation in the early 1990s, resulting in the only majority-Black district in the state. South Carolina's congressional map has seen some partisan fighting in recent years, however. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that said a Republican-led redraw of district lines unfairly diluted Black voters' power, primarily in South Carolina's 1st congressional district, which neighbors Clyburn's. The high court's conservative majority ruled 6-3 that the district was redrawn along partisan lines, rather than racial, and therefore could be legally upheld. Redistricting is traditionally done following the U.S. census, which is taken every decade, to account for population shifts in various states. Norman's call to redraw the lines again comes after Texas Republicans' push to create a new congressional map that would give the GOP as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives. It's ignited a political firestorm across the country, with liberal states like New York and California pledging to follow suit. There are now discussions in multiple states about potentially redrawing district lines as well. Fox News Digital reached out to Clyburn's campaign for comment, as well as representatives in the South Carolina General article source: GOP governor nominee pushes redistricting to oust state's lone House Dem
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Latest federal list of ‘sanctuary' jurisdictions includes Chicago, Cook County and Illinois
The Department of Justice placed Chicago, Cook County, and the state of Illinois on its latest 'sanctuary jurisdiction list,' with Attorney General Pam Bondi promising to 'continue bringing litigation' against places the department says stand in the way of federal immigration enforcement. Bondi said in a statement Tuesday that she would 'work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country,' but did not threaten any specific actions beyond what the federal government is already doing. Illinois is among a dozen states, Cook is one of four counties, and Chicago is one of 18 cities on the list. It's the latest federal target on the area following months of local ICE raids, the feds' failed lawsuit challenging local sanctuary policies, and President Donald Trump's continuing criticism of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker. Both Johnson and Pritzker have also defended the policies in hourslong testimony before Congress earlier this year. The mayor's office and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office both said they had not received any additional communication from the DOJ about the city's and county's placement on the list. 'Chicago's Welcoming City policies were first put in place more than 40 years ago by our city's first Black mayor, Harold Washington,' Johnson spokesperson Cassio Mendoza said in an emailed statement. 'We will continue to fight for the dignity of our immigrant, migrant, and refugee communities and stand up for the rights of all Chicagoans against any federal overreach. Our city is safer when police officers can focus on driving down crime and violence and holding offenders accountable, rather than civil immigration enforcement.' Andres Correa, a spokesman for Pritzker, said in an email the DOJ's latest actions were simply a pressure tactic. 'Illinois' bipartisan TRUST Act is, and always has been, fully compliant with federal law, a fact that was affirmed in federal court just last month,' Correa said in a statement. 'Our laws ensure that law enforcement focuses on fighting crime, not enforcing the Trump administration's unlawful policies or politically motivated tactics.' A federal judge in Chicago late last month blocked the Trump administration's challenge of local sanctuary policies, such as the Trust Act, the city's sanctuary ordinance and the county statute banning ICE agents from the Cook County Jail unless they had a criminal warrant unrelated to immigration. Local jurisdictions' choice to not participate in enforcing civil immigration law is protected by the 10th Amendment, U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins wrote. Granting an end-run around that amendment 'would allow the federal government to commandeer States under the guise of intergovernmental immunity — the exact type of direct regulation of states barred by the Tenth Amendment.' The DOJ's list is the second one of its kind to be published. The first, released two months ago on DHS' website, contained hundreds of jurisdictions and was riddled with typos. It spurred pushback from officials who said it was not clear why they were included. The errors included jurisdictions that overwhelmingly voted for Trump and at least one that had declared itself a 'non-sanctuary city.' The issues were never fully explained, and, within days, the list was replaced with a 'Page Not Found' error message. The DOJ noted Louisville had been removed from the list soon after it agreed to honor DHS requests to hold inmates on immigration detainers for up to 48 hours. Given the potential loss of federal funding or increased ICE raids, the 'stakes are too high,' Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said of the move to drop its 2017 policy against such detainers, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. Bondi celebrated the change and urged other jurisdictions to do the same. .
